Waiting for Viridian
by Corano
Summary: You are a vigilante, poised to defend your region. Upon his return, you will defeat him, like every time before.


Your name is Red, and you are waiting.

You stand at the top of Mt. Silver, a climb of ice and rock and woe. A year ago, you were holed up in a cave near the peak. The bottom of the cave opened up around you, the maw of stone reaching out to you, inviting you in. You decided that was too creepy. So you were content with making your home at the summit. You are lucky, too, because the more violent tempests occur below you. You are absorbed in the storms. In fact, you taught your blastoise to harness the power of the endless barrage of ice and rain. His blizzards tore down pokémon after pokémon, including the fiery Moltres.

You are no longer interested in collecting pokémon. Blue completed Oak's Pokedex a year and a half ago. That's not to say you only have six. On the contrary, your team consists of about forty of the best fighters you have ever seen. Some of them you molded from eggs, such as Venasaur and Blastoise. Others, you caught wild and were lucky to witness their might, such as Nidoking, Snorlax, and even your pikachu. In the abandoned Power Plant you found a ball of electrical energy that made Pikachu, already strong before, a force to be reckoned with. He singlehandedly took down Zapdos.

Nowadays, though, you stick with a core team of seven. You had an espeon inside the cave, because its psychic powers calmed you and allowed you to see around you. You thought he'd be too cold outside, so you exchanged him for Lapras.

While you stick with the standard six pokéballs on you for battles, you actually have another tucked in your bag. You have this pokémon because you have a duty to fulfill.

...

When you encountered him, you knew immediately that he would be trouble. The guy guarding the cave and the cute gym leader both warned you about the power he held. But this… you had no idea Mewtwo was this strong. The psychic aura emanating from it alerted you to its strength. But, you weren't too worried. After all, you regularly sparred against the Elite Four in your downtime, and you had never lost to them.

You began to get nervous after Mewtwo knocked out Charizard with one flick of the hand. Since there were no other people around, perhaps the League rules would have to be ignored for a bit. You threw out the other five pokéballs, and the battle was really on.

Lapras shot an ice beam at Mewtwo, distracting it. Gengar then hurled a barrage of shadow balls. Mewtwo's eyes glowed and he teleported to the other side of the cave. No dice. So you told Clefable to use its strength to hurl Onix at Mewtwo. Clefable nodded, and, picking up Onix with ease, spun around several times before Onix used harden so any impact wouldn't hurt. Mewtwo's eyes glowed, and he stopped Onix in the air. Fortunately, you were prepared for this. You had sent Pikachu over, quietly but quickly. And now, your triumph: Pikachu slammed into Mewtwo from behind and used volt tackle. Following that, Clefable and Gengar used Shadow Ball simultaneously, lobbing dozens. Mewtwo was furious from Pikachu's attack, and had turned around to use psychic. So he failed to notice the shadow balls until they rammed into him and sent him flying.

Now was your chance. You sprinted over and flung your master ball at it. But Mewtwo looked up. His eyes glowed, and the master ball shattered. Your resolve weakened but did not break. You took out your Ultra Ball, flung that one, but Mewtwo broke that one, too.

You shook your head. Your brow tightened and your shoulders slumped. You had one last shot. You took out a dusty Poke Ball, one of the original five that Oak gave you at the very start of your journey.

Suddenly, you felt a foreign presence in your mind. You flinched, and looked at Mewtwo. It was still kneeling from the previous attacks, but its eyes were pointed at you, narrowed down to slits. Mewtwo eyed you as he sifted through your thoughts. When he got to your memories, he began to flip through them like a Rolodex.

Now was your chance, you threw the ball at Mewtwo with all your might. At the same time, Mewtwo came across your memories of Giovanni. In the span of an instant, he reviewed your memories of him: your contempt for his ways, your numerous defeats of him, and your takedown of Team Rocket. You noticed Mewtwo's eyes widen. He bowed his head and let the pokéball envelop him in light. Once, twice, three times it shook. Then you realized you had captured the most powerful pokémon you had ever encountered.

...

After the capture, you hung around Cerulean for a few days. You went to the gym and watched Misty defeat trainer after trainer in succession. You were too shy to talk to her much, but when she looked at you and smiled after every win, you knew being there was enough.

But every meeting has a departure, and you left soon after for Johto to take on their gyms. You cruised through most of them with little difficulty. Having a forty-plus team of pokémon on call can help preparation quite a bit. You defeated the gyms in record time, an astonishing two months. You crushed the elite four-again-and defeated Blue, who got cocky and tried to usurp you-again. He left in a fury and applied for the vacant Viridian gym spot.

On the third month, you were flying back to Cerulean when the ball in your bag spoke.

You were so flabbergasted you landed Noctowl at a pokémon center in front of some towering mountain—Mt. Gold, was it?—and entered. You told the ball to wait. You needed absolute peace to exchange mental messages like that.

So after a long trek you entered the cave where you would later reside and called Mewtwo out from his capsule. Standing at your height, you were a little tense. But Mewtwo reassured you that he meant no harm. He had observed your heart and your bonds with your Pokémon, and he was compelled to learn from them. He also analyzed your memories of the Rocket boss, Giovanni. Mewtwo had no words for what he next wanted to convey, so he exchanged memories with you.

In your mind's eye, horrible memories roared by like a waterfall of agony. You saw Mewtwo's birth, messy and painful. You saw Mr. Fuji, younger and sharper, with narrow eyes. You saw human clones around you fail, again and again. You finally witnessed the experiments they performed on Pokémon, including Mewtwo. And you saw Giovanni, shaking his head and smirking. As Mewtwo's memories progressed, you saw Giovanni's suits grow more and more fine, Fuji's face grow more and more lined and tired. You witnessed countless deaths, humans and Pokémon alike. All while strapped to a table or jailed in a cell. Once, you saw Blaine. But he was angry, so Rocket grunts 'escorted' him out of the lab while he reached out to you, his face pained. Fuji left soon after.

You didn't know what to do, so you kept your psychic powers secret. Scientists stood around often and scratched their heads and wondered what they did wrong. Finally, Giovanni himself came in and unstrapped you, shaking his head. He told you that you were useless to him and to get out. You had no powers. You would never amount to anything. So you flung him across the room with psywave and fled the lab.

Exiting Mewtwo's recollections, you realized that Giovanni was after the master ball. It was simple. After you took the fossils from Mt. Moon, after you cleared Pokémon Tower, after you shut down the Game Corner, Giovanni was cornered. He had no more options to make money. But Giovanni is even more dangerous when cornered. He stormed Silph Co. and was wrapping up negotiations with the president when you strolled in. That was why the president had the master ball on his desk. Giovanni was out to capture Mewtwo again.

Mewtwo stared at you with wide eyes. He mentioned that Giovanni was still out there.

You nodded. You already knew this.

...

So here you rest, at the peak of the mountain. A couple of years have passed, and you have trained your pokémon well. You believe that they can take on any threat posed to them. Including Giovanni. Mewtwo told you that standing at the peak would create a sort of psychic radar, allowing him to sense Giovanni's presence at any spot in Johto or Kanto. Once, Mewtwo noticed his presence in Tohjo Falls. But it was for only an hour, not enough for you to get there. He disappeared again soon after.

You stand with Mewtwo, overlooking a rare sight: a clear day. Far off in the distance, you see Pallet Town, your home. You realize it's been a while since you called your mom. Or Blue, or Oak, or Misty, for that matter. But you know that stopping Giovanni takes precedence over all this. Team Rocket will inevitably fall, in any incarnation, without Giovanni. You will only leave this mountain when there is no possibility of losing to him.

You return Mewtwo. The chill is entering his bones. Then, you hear footsteps. You turn and see a young boy and his typhlosion. You are aware that Johto and Kanto received a new Champion in your absence. This must be him. You let your silence speak for you, and send out Pikachu.

Maybe this will be the final test.

**"..."**


End file.
